Nature & Nesting Ducks Know Best

We're heading into Mallard nesting season and each year, we expect this question on the other end of our frequently ringing Wildlife Education & Rehabilitation phone line: "A duck started a nest in my yard and laid a couple of eggs, but she's not sitting on the nest! What should I do?"

This common question can best be answered through an explanation of how Mallards nest. The female mallard (hen) will spend weeks scouting out an area to build her nest. Mallards will nest almost anywhere within reasonable distance of a water source and often in what seems to be inappropriate locations such as near a road, in a parking lot or a yard with big dogs. It’s helpful for us humans to remember that, most of the time, a duck knows how to choose a good nest area better then we do.

After choosing a location and constructing the nest, the female will lay one egg a day but then leave and join the male (drake) at a nearby water source. Once the whole clutch (usually 8-10 eggs) has been laid, she begins incubation for about 28 days. Not sitting on the eggs until the last egg is laid is what allows all the ducklings to hatch at the same time. Shortly after the female has begun incubation, the male will leave and provides no care for the eggs, hen, or ducklings.

Mallard ducklings are precocial which means that they are mobile and able to eat on their own almost immediately after they hatch. Within hours after hatch, the hen leads the ducklings to her chosen water source where they will remain. A duck nest is only for the eggs and not for the ducklings.

The trip to water can be quite dangerous. However, it's important that we allow the ducklings to remain with the hen so she can teach them everything they need to know to survive in the wild. Most often, human attempts at helping them during this stage results in increased accidents and abandonment as mother and the ducklings react frantically to human intervention.

Often, we humans think the hen doesn’t know what she’s doing when she nests in our yards, parking lots and other “human” places. The fact is she knows exactly what she is doing. While not every nesting attempt by any bird can always be successful, the vast majority of these suburban duck nests produce healthy wild ducklings. Additionally, when a duck nest fails, the hen usually starts the process all over, replacing the lost eggs often in a new location.